THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY.

THE DIGNITY OF THE OFFICE; THE WEAKNESS OF

THE MAN.

Preached Sept. 24th, 1848.

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."-2 Cor. xii. 9.

It is not possible to conceive of a greater distinction, than that afforded by the sanctity and divinity of the ministry, as contrasted with the personal weakness, insufficiency, unimportance, and unworthiness of the

minister.

The ministry is a holy and everlasting priesthood, knowing nothing of imperfection or interruption, nothing of human weakness or alloy the minister is one of the fallen sons of Adam, at any moment liable to be called away from the most inadequate discharge of his sacred duties, and to have his office given to another. Go to the sick chamber, and look at that sufferer on his uneasy bed. That sufferer is an aged minister of the Gospel, in like circumstances of bodily

weakness and spiritual helplessness as any other man, and life is fast ebbing away.

Past scenes are rising up to his view, and many a sad remembrance, and troubled thoughts which we presume not to scan, and which are known only to Him, who seeth into the heart. Look at the little table by the bedside, covered with "a fair white linen cloth," on which have been placed the consecrated elements of bread and wine, emblems of the Body and Blood of a crucified Redeemer, and means of the grace which proceedeth from Him. Now listen to the voice of the Church which is pouring forth on behalf of her dying minister deep confessions of sin and earnest prayers for pardon, and bidding him "hear what comfortable words our Saviour Christ saith unto all that truly turn to Him;" encouraging him to lift up his feeble voice "with angels, and archangels, and with all the company of heaven to laud and magnify His glorious name," "who did humble Himself, even to the death upon the cross, for us miserable sinners, who lay in darkness and the shadow of death; that He might make us the children of God, and exalt us to everlasting life." This is the ministry, as exhibited in one of the most important portions of its holy work.

Indeed, my dear brethren, it is of the utmost importance to every member of the Church of Christ, that he should have right views of the solemn and sacred character of the ministry. It is no institution of man, but the direct ordinance of God. It was established, under the former dispensation, amid the most awful circumstances of God's immediate pre

sence: it was confirmed, under the dispensation of grace, by the visible descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, whom the Great Head of the Church had Himself called out from the world, and had consecrated to its holy offices. Therefore says the Apostle, "All things are of God; . . . who hath given to us the ministry." "And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron." So was Christ Himself expressly ordained to this office by a voice from heaven, and specially anointed to it by the Holy Ghost. Hence it is called "the ministration of the Spirit." To the agency of the Spirit is referred the very entrance into the ministry, "Thou Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, show whether of these two thou hast chosen;" so is continual direction and guidance in the ministry, “The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them;" so is preventing and restraining grace, when Paul and Timothy would have preached the word in Asia, they "were forbidden of the Holy Ghost;" when they would have gone into Bithynia, "the Spirit suffered them not." By the same agency are the various qualifications for the ministry dispensed, "All these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will." It is called "the ministry of reconciliation;" what title can be higher? It is the mode and means by which the Everlasting Son has been pleased to make known, and to render effectual to the saving of perishing and immortal souls, "His one oblation of Himself once offered, a full, perfect,

and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world." And therefore are "the spirits of just men made perfect" the work of the ministry. And the work of the ministry shall then (and not until then) be fully known and appreciated, when the period shall arrive, shown by anticipation to the beloved disciple, and of which he gives so sublime a description, "I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." And one of the ministers of the Church in heaven told the Apostle, "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."

And, my dear brethren, do we thus magnify this glorious and excellent ministry with any view or desire secretly to exalt ourselves? God forbid! "For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake." He has indeed been pleased to call us, all unworthy as we are, to minister in holy things; "but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the

power may be of God, and not of us." Brethren, the ministry is a holy thing, but it is an humbling one. "Thou which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?" Thou that preachest that men should be continually looking up to higher and eternal things, art thou hampered, and harassed, and careworn, and chained down to the ground by temporal anxieties, and worldly cravings, and the desires and enjoyments of this present life? O brethren, to be set as 'guides of the blind," and yet ourselves to wander! "lights of them which are in darkness," and yet to slumber and sleep! "instructors of the foolish," and "teachers of babes," and yet to find ourselves so dark and so ignorant, and so cold and heartless in our work! To have the charge of perishing but never-dying souls, to hear the knell continually announcing that another of these is passed into eternity and to its last account, and to have the question force itself upon the conscience, "What have I done, in the discharge of my ministry, for the salvation of that soul!" And to feel that the time is near at hand, when the Great Shepherd of the sheep shall say to each of us, "Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?" Who of the most holy, the most painstaking, but must be humbled by these awful responsibilities? Who will not feel his heart ready to die away within him, as he exclaims with an inspired Apostle, "Who is sufficient for these things? How shall I escape the condemnation I have incurred? Who shall deliver me from the body of this death ?”

Let none of our people, then, be less ready to hear